scholarly journals Land-use and related pressures have reduced biotic integrity more on islands than on mainlands

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Sanchez-Ortiz ◽  
Ricardo E. Gonzalez ◽  
Adriana De Palma ◽  
Tim Newbold ◽  
Samantha L. L. Hill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Pressure Effects ◽  
Biotic Integrity ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspots ◽  
Global Models ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Road Development ◽  
Safe Limits ◽  
Disproportionate Number

ABSTRACTTracking progress towards biodiversity targets requires indicators that are sensitive to changes at policy-relevant scales, can easily be aggregated to any spatial scale and are simple to understand. The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII), which estimates the average abundance of a diverse set of organisms in a given area relative to their reference populations, was proposed in 2005 in response to this need. A new implementation of BII was developed as part of the PREDICTS project in 2016 and has been adopted by GEO BON, IPBES and CBD. The previous global models for BII estimation could not account for pressures having different effects in different settings. Islands are a setting of particular interest: many are home to a disproportionate number of endemic species; oceanic islands may have relatively low overall species diversity because of their isolation; and the pattern and timing of human pressures can be very different from that seen on mainlands. Here, we test whether biotic integrity – as estimated by BII – has decreased more severely on islands than mainlands. We update methods previously used to estimate BII globally (Newbold et al., 2016) to allow pressure effects to differ between islands and mainlands, while also implementing some other recent improvements in modelling. We estimate BII for islands and mainlands by combining global models of how two aspects of biodiversity – overall abundance, and compositional similarity to minimally-impacted sites – have been affected by human pressures. We use these models to project high-resolution (∼1km2) global maps of BII for the year 2005. We calculate average BII for island and mainland biomes, countries, IPBES regions and biodiversity hotspots; and repeat our analyses using a richness-based version of BII. BII on both islands and mainlands has fallen below the values proposed as safe limits across most regions, biomes and biodiversity hotspots. Our BII estimates are lower than those published in 2016, globally, within all biodiversity hotspots and within most biomes, and show greater spatial heterogeneity; detailed analysis of these differences shows that they arise mostly from a combination of improvements to the modelling framework. Average BII does not strongly differ between islands and mainlands, but richness-based BII has fallen by more on islands. It seems native species are more negatively affected by rising human population density and road development on islands than mainlands, and islands have seen more land conversion. Our results highlight the parlous state of biodiversity native to islands.

scholarly journals Introduced delicacy or native species? A natural origin of Bermudian terrapins supported by fossil and genetic data

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F Parham ◽  
Mark E Outerbridge ◽  
Bryan L Stuart ◽  
David B Wingate ◽  
Helmut Erlenkeuser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Invasive Pest ◽  
Diamondback Terrapin ◽  
Malaclemys Terrapin ◽  
Natural Distribution ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Introduced Populations ◽  
Marine Reptile

Humans have greatly altered the natural distribution of species, making it difficult to distinguish between natural and introduced populations. This is a problem for conservation efforts because native or introduced status can determine whether a species is afforded protection or persecuted as an invasive pest. Holocene colonization events are especially difficult to discern, particularly when the species in question is a naturally good disperser and widely transported by people. In this study, we test the origin of such a species, the diamondback terrapin ( Malaclemys terrapin ), on Bermuda using a combination of palaeontologic (fossil, radiometric and palaeoenvironmental) and genetic data. These lines of evidence support the hypothesis that terrapins are relatively recent (between 3000 and 400 years ago) natural colonizers of Bermuda. The tiny population of Bermudian terrapins represents the second naturally occurring non-marine reptile that still survives on one of the most densely populated and heavily developed oceanic islands in the world. We recommend that they should be given protection as a native species.

Variability in local pressures under digital tourniquets

2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 637-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Middleton ◽  
P. J. Jenkins ◽  
A. Y. Muir ◽  
R. E. Anakwe ◽  
J. E. McEachan
Keyword(s):  
Force Sensor ◽  
Pressure Effects ◽  
Application Time ◽  
Surgical Glove ◽  
Surgical Gloves ◽  
National Patient Safety Agency ◽  
National Patient ◽  
Safe Limits ◽  
Local Pressures ◽  
The Uk

The UK National Patient Safety Agency issued a rapid response report in 2009 following reports of complications related to digital tourniquet use and inadvertent retention. In their guidance, they recommend the use of CE marked digital tourniquets and advise against the use of surgical gloves. There are a number of different commercially available non-pneumatic digital tourniquets, but little clear data relating to their comparable physical properties, clinical efficacy or safety. The aim of this study was to investigate the variability of pressures exerted by non-pneumatic digital tourniquets. A Tekscan FlexiForce® force sensor was used to measure applied force and to calculate the surface pressures under: the Toe-niquet™; T-Ring™ and surgical glove ‘roll down’ tourniquets in finger models. The lowest mean pressures were produced by the larger glove sizes (size 8) (25 mmHg), while the highest pressures were produced by the Toe-niquet (1560 mmHg). There was a significant overall difference in pressures exerted under tourniquets when comparing tourniquet type ( p<0.001) and finger size ( p<0.001) with these techniques. It is difficult to anticipate and regulate pressures generated by non-pneumatic tourniquets. Safe limits for application time and surface pressures are difficult to define. Further work is required to model the pressure effects of commercially available digital tourniquets and to identify which are most effective but safe.

scholarly journals Remoteness promotes biological invasions on islands worldwide

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (37) ◽  
pp. 9270-9275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietmar Moser ◽  
Bernd Lenzner ◽  
Patrick Weigelt ◽  
Wayne Dawson ◽  
Holger Kreft ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Island Biogeography ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Native Plants ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Tropical Islands ◽  
Large Dataset ◽  
Island Species ◽  
Species Pools ◽  
Natural Dispersal

One of the best-known general patterns in island biogeography is the species–isolation relationship (SIR), a decrease in the number of native species with increasing island isolation that is linked to lower rates of natural dispersal and colonization on remote oceanic islands. However, during recent centuries, the anthropogenic introduction of alien species has increasingly gained importance and altered the composition and richness of island species pools. We analyzed a large dataset for alien and native plants, ants, reptiles, mammals, and birds on 257 (sub) tropical islands, and showed that, except for birds, the number of naturalized alien species increases with isolation for all taxa, a pattern that is opposite to the negative SIR of native species. We argue that the reversal of the SIR for alien species is driven by an increase in island invasibility due to reduced diversity and increased ecological naiveté of native biota on the more remote islands.

Status, Distribution, and Conservation of Native Freshwater Fishes of Western North America

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Freshwater Fishes ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Stream Fishes ◽  
Aquatic Resources ◽  
Native Fishes ◽  
Optimum Flow

ABSTRACT Native Hawaiian stream fishes are represented by only five species belonging to two families, Gobiidae (‘o’opu nakea Awaous <em>guamensis</em>, ‘o’opu ‘alamo’o <em>Lentipes concolor</em>, ‘o’opu nopili <em>Sicyopterus stimpsoni</em>, and ‘o’opu naniha <em>Stenogobius hawaiiensis</em>) and Eleotridae (‘o’opu ‘akupa <em>Eleotris sandwicensis</em>). All species are found on each of the main Hawaiian Islands, and none is currently threatened or endangered. These animals are not true freshwater fishes, but rather share an amphidromous life cycle where adults live and reproduce in streams and larvae develop at sea. Techniques developed for sampling (electroshocking, seining) and assessment (e.g., index of biotic integrity, instream flow incremental methodology) in continental U.S. streams are inappropriate for Hawaiian streams. Thus, procedures were developed specifically for fishes in streams on oceanic islands of the tropical Pacific where amphidromy is the predominant life history mode. Geographical information systems-compatible data from ongoing statewide native stream fish surveys can soon be viewed on the Web site for the Hawai’i Division of Aquatic Resources (http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar). The 2000 Hawai’i Supreme Court decision on the Waiahole Water Dispute specifically provides for the maintenance of optimum flow for native stream fishes, and the Division of Aquatic Resources has adopted policies guiding instream water use decisions: (1) no net loss of habitat for native fishes, (2) use of a watershed or ahupua’a perspective, and (3) maintenance of an open corridor between the stream and the ocean to facilitate native species migrations. The preservation of indigenous Hawaiian stream fishes now has been elevated to the highest level of protection in the state.

scholarly journals Dissecting macroecological and macroevolutionary patterns of forest biodiversity across the Hawaiian archipelago

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (33) ◽  
pp. 16436-16441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan Craven ◽  
Tiffany M. Knight ◽  
Kasey E. Barton ◽  
Lalasia Bialic-Murphy ◽  
Jonathan M. Chase
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Hawaiian Archipelago ◽  
Biodiversity Patterns ◽  
Island Area

Biodiversity patterns emerge as a consequence of evolutionary and ecological processes. Their relative importance is frequently tested on model ecosystems such as oceanic islands that vary in both. However, the coarse-scale data typically used in biogeographic studies have limited inferential power to separate the effects of historical biogeographic factors (e.g., island age) from the effects of ecological ones (e.g., island area and habitat heterogeneity). Here, we describe local-scale biodiversity patterns of woody plants using a database of more than 500 forest plots from across the Hawaiian archipelago, where these volcanic islands differ in age by several million years. We show that, after controlling for factors such as island area and heterogeneity, the oldest islands (Kaua’i and O’ahu) have greater native species diversity per unit area than younger islands (Maui and Hawai’i), indicating an important role for macroevolutionary processes in driving not just whole-island differences in species diversity, but also local community assembly. Further, we find that older islands have a greater number of rare species that are more spatially clumped (i.e., higher within-island β-diversity) than younger islands. When we included alien species in our analyses, we found that the signal of macroevolutionary processes via island age was diluted. Our approach allows a more explicit test of the question of how macroevolutionary factors shape not just regional-scale biodiversity, but also local-scale community assembly patterns and processes in a model archipelago ecosystem, and it can be applied to disentangle biodiversity drivers in other systems.

Crop wild relative diversity and conservation planning in two isolated oceanic islands of a biodiversity hotspot (Mauritius and Rodrigues)

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Bissessur ◽  
C. Baider ◽  
N. Boodia ◽  
M.G.H. Badaloo ◽  
J.A. Bégué ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Crop Improvement ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Relative Distribution ◽  
Scoring Method

AbstractThe rising need for crop diversification to mitigate the impacts of climate change on food security urges the exploration of crop wild relatives (CWR) as potential genetic resources for crop improvement. This study aimed at assessing the diversity of CWR of the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues and proposing cost-effective conservation measures for their sustainable use. A comprehensive list of the native species was collated from The Mauritius Herbarium and published literature. Each species was assessed for the economic value of its related crop, utilization potential for crop improvement, relative distribution, occurrence status and Red List conservation status, using a standard scoring method for prioritization. The occurrence data of the priority species were collected, verified, geo-referenced and mapped. A total of 43 crop-related species were identified for both islands and 21 species were prioritized for active conservation. The CWR diversity hotspots in Mauritius included Mondrain, followed by Florin and Le Pouce Mountain. Although a wide diversity of CWR has been recorded on both islands, most do not relate to major economic crops in use, therefore only a few species may be gene donors to economic crops at the regional and global level. For example, coffee, a major global beverage crop, has three wild relatives on Mauritius, which could potentially be of interest for future predictive characterization.

Annotated list of island lady beetles from Chile (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4852 (5) ◽  
pp. 501-526
Author(s):  
GUILLERMO GONZALEZ ◽  
DARKO D. COTORAS ◽  
AUDREY A. GREZ
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Tierra Del Fuego ◽  
Rapa Nui ◽  
Worldwide Distribution ◽  
Annotated List ◽  
Continental Islands ◽  
The One ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
Juan Fernández Archipelago

We provide a list of coccinellids (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) species from the island territories of Chile. We report a total of 68 records, coming from ten islands, including 42 species corresponding to more than 35% of the species of the country. This paper presents the first Coccinellidae records for the Islas Desventuradas, Isla Mocha and Isla Tenglo. Contrary to what has been reported on other islands and other taxonomic groups in Chilean islands, the level of coccinellid endemism is low (8%), with only one and two species endemic to the Juan Fernández archipelago and Isla de Chiloé, respectively, and probably a fourth species from the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The presence of species with worldwide distribution and of agricultural relevance is strong in the Chilean oceanic islands, particularly in Rapa Nui. The fauna of the continental islands is very similar to the one in the nearby continental areas and composed of native species. Further surveys of Coccinellidae and other insects are required for the islands of Chile, especially for several of them in which there are no records. 

Changes in lowland dry-forest native and alien plant communities on Réunion Island (Indian Ocean) over 16 years

Botany ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (12) ◽  
pp. 843-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Barbé ◽  
Nicole J. Fenton ◽  
Christophe Lavergne ◽  
Timothée Le Péchon ◽  
Cláudia Baider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Plant Succession ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Alien Plant ◽  
Forest Remnants ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
High Level

Native floras of oceanic islands are among the most threatened on Earth. For example, only 1% of intact dry-forest ecosystems remain on Réunion, harbouring numerous endangered native species. Alien species invasion is one of the more important threats facing these ecosystems, as it has been hypothesized that, over time, the abundance of alien species will increase more than that of native species. To explore this, we studied floristic changes over a 16 year period (1995–2011) in six dry-forest remnants. Species richness and abundance increased for both alien and native species over this period, but at a significantly higher rate for the abundance of invasive alien plants. Despite this, Jaccard’s coefficient indicates a high level of similarity between the communities of 1995 and 2011. Also, the single site that benefited from invasive species management experienced the largest increase in native species, both in terms of specific richness and abundance. This study underlines the importance of permanent plots in studying the dynamics of invaded communities and in understanding plant succession. It also suggests a potential temporal persistence of island dry-forest communities, despite the expansion of alien species, and suggests the development of a new pathway in secondary succession where native and alien species coexist.

A diagnostic modelling framework to construct indices of biotic integrity: A case study of fish in the Zeeschelde estuary (Belgium)

2011 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Quataert ◽  
Pieter Verschelde ◽  
Jan Breine ◽  
Geert Verbeke ◽  
Els Goetghebeur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biotic Integrity ◽  
Modelling Framework

The community structure of hyperiid amphipods associated with two seamount regions in the South-east Pacific

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Liliana Espinosa-Leal ◽  
Johanna Medellín-Mora ◽  
Andrea Corredor-Acosta ◽  
Rubén Escribano
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Coastal Upwelling ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Oceanic Island ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspots ◽  
Geographic Isolation ◽  
The South ◽  
Meridional Gradient ◽  
East Pacific ◽  
Juan Fernández Archipelago

Abstract Oceanic islands and seamounts are considered biodiversity hotspots. Here, we present a taxonomy and community analyses of hyperiid amphipods collected near oceanic islands and over seamounts of the Juan Fernández Archipelago and Desventuradas Archipelago in the South-east Pacific. Both archipelagos are separated by about 800 km over the meridional gradient, suggesting the existence of different hyperiid communities because of apparent geographic isolation and distinctive oceanographic characteristics between regions. To test this hypothesis, zooplankton samples were collected from 19 stations during the CIMAR 22 ‘Oceanic Island’ cruise in October–November 2016. In total, 56 species of hyperiids were found, of which Phrosina semilunata, Lestrigonus schizogeneios, Hyperietta stephenseni, Hyperioides longipes, Phronimella elongata and Primno latreillei were the most abundant and recurrent species. The species richness (S), Shannon–Wiener diversity (H’) and dominance (D) of both the archipelagos were not significantly different. Additionally, except for a small group of rare species, the species composition was similar in both areas. Most species showed greater abundances than those observed in the coastal upwelling zone off Chile, whereas shared species between regions suggested the presence of a single biogeographic unit comprising the coastal transition zone and oceanic area off Chile within which both archipelagos are included. Correlation analysis indicated that salinity was the best predictor for the community structure, which provides evidence that the contributions of previously described water masses of the South-east Pacific may influence the spatial distribution and composition of the hyperiid community.

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